Straight-bar knitting machine



Nov. 9 1926.. 1,506,378

E. A. NOBLE STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 21 1923 3Sheets-Sheet 1 E. A. NOBLE STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINE f m w m Nov.- 9I926.

E'. A. NOBLE STRAIGHT BAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 21 1923 3Sheets-Sheet 5 i Patented Nov. 9, 1926.

UNITED STATES 1,606,378 PATENT OFFICE.

EMILE ARSENE NOBLE, OF TBOYES, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR TO SOCIETE ANONYME DESETABLISSEMENTS' DlitLOS'IAI: FRERES, 0F TROYES, AUIBE, FRANCE.

STRAIGHT-BAR KNITTING MACHINE.

Application filed'Decmeber 21, 1923, Serial is equal in each group tothat of the thread carrier bars and secured to each end of the loopingbar, each of said two groups actlng in a given direction.

2.-A mechanism for returning the arms and changing the carrier barspermittingto automatically effect the various consecutiveoperations on apiece of goods by actuating one or more carrier bars.

3.A- disposition for guiding and strengthening the carrier bars at'theirends by the adaptation of sheathing or lining locking of said bars.

thereto which receives-the efforts caused by the thrust, the impact ofthe'stops and the 4.The arrangement below the bars of the stops and thelocking devices for obtain ng the partial strokes of the carrier barsfor carrying on, for instance, the heeling, spl1cing, or knitting of theupper part of the foot; as well as the unhooking'of the locks for thedeparture of the carrier bars and the optional suppression of the stopsallowing the bars to stroke between the outer selvedges.

The said entraining arrangement allows of operating one or more carrierbars by means of a single device, thus replacing the counters and thestriping apparatus actuating but a single bar. and thefrictionentraining devices used with the additional thread carriers forheels and splicing. The use of the said arrangement "requires a specialtype of guides and of strengthening means for the bars, formingguideways at the ends thereof, and a special disposition of removablestops for the heels and other reduced strokes of the thread carriers,the

practical arrangement of said 'stopofiering substantial tappets andprovides for a reliable locking,'while eliminating all vibration of thethread carriers. In certain.

known knitting machines the carrier-bars are'drawnalong by frictionbymeans of devices cooperating with the looping bar and drawn along withit. Said arrangement re- No. 682,051, and in France January 5, 1923.

,sults'in considerable friction losses and requires an exaggeratedexpense of power, es-v pecially for low stroke operations. Moreover,said means together with the stopping and locking devices are scatteredthroughout the whole length of the bars, which hinders the passage ofthe yarns and complicates the setting up of the stop and lock carryingmeans.

The appended drawing shows ,by way of example a constructional form ofthe en-'v training device according to our invention, as applied to acotton knltting machlne of the plain stitch type fornarrowed hosierieswherein the working of the thread carriers offers the greatestvariation, this manufacture requiring in "some cases as many as fivebars on various strokes for forming the loops otthe same row.

,Figs. 1 and 3 are elevational views of the entraininl device, .on bothsides thereof, and Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. i

0 Fig. 4 s an elevational view of the lock- ,ing devlces and stops, withparts broken away.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line A-A of Fig. 4 showing the guides and thestrengthenings of the carrier bars.

Figs. 6-, 7, 8, 9 show the mechanismior changing the carrier bars, inside elevation.

Fig. 10 is a front view and Fig. 11 a plan view of the same. 3

in device. a

Fig. 13 shows an arran ement by which the cylinders are replaced of thecarrier bars, are pivoted upon an axle,

and are mounted on a movable common frame 2. They are maintained by therods 3 set under the action of push springs 4 and engaging V-shapednotches made in said fingers. There aretwo frames 2 and they Fig. 12 isa modified form of the entrainby an attachment are connectedrespectively by the supports 5 Y to each end of the looping bar andguided by a fixed guideway 6. The thrust upon the carrier bars 7 takesplace through the medium of the screws 8 mounted upon the said bars. Thesaid screws serve to adjust the distance between the thread carriers andamount of thrust.

According to the preceding, the frames 2 provided with the fingers 1.will be. drawn along bythe slur-cock throughout the whole stroke thereofand each of said frames impels in a given direction one or more carrierbars by means of those of the fingers 1 which are inthe lower position.

The various control of the entraining operations of the carrier barsis'as follows:

When one of the actuated carrier bars engages its stop-piece, thefingerl willpivot about, thus releasing the rod 3 from the notch of saidfinger, and the latterwill as-- sume the position shown in Fig. 3 whichit maintains during the return stroke. At the end of this return stroke,thesaid fingers engage the strikers 12, Figs. 6, 10 and 11,

which bear upon a stationary edge of the fixed support 16 and returnsaidfingers into their operative position. If the said strikers are inthe raised position, as shown in 12, Figs. 10 and 11, they will recedeunder the pressure of the fingers, thus com pressing the springs 13; inthis event the said fingers will not be turned down and will not beoperative during their return stroke.

The operation of raising or lowering the said strikers 12 is obtained,at each end of the machine, by means of the cams 15 mounted upon acylinder 17 and controlling the strikers through the medium of thelevers 14. Both cylinders 17 are keyed to each end of a shaft 18 andthey will act by the same disposition of cams 15 in order to raise orlower the same strikers whereby the same bars are actuated in eitherdirection.

The two cam cylinders remain stationary,

being held by a ratchet 19 and a pawl 20, as

long as it is desired to make use of the same carrier bars.

The operation of changing the carrier bars, which changing is requiredfor effecting the different operations of striping, plating, splicing,.feeding the heel, etc., is eifected by turning the two cylindersfronrone division to another, each of said divisions being provided with arow of cams of suitable disposition according to the sequencefof thevarious operations.

In the arrangements here shown,-';-"each generatrix of the cylindercorresponding to each division of the sanie have adjacent each lever 14suitable tapped holes adapted to receive screws the heads of which formthe said cams 15; f

' In practice, the cylinders will have upon their surface one or morecombinations of cams which are necessary for the manufacthe movement iseffected by the lever '22,

Figs. 8 and 9, which is connected with said pawl by a link and isimpelled by a cam 23 keyed to the driving shaft of the machine, The hook24 which holds the whole mechanism in such a manner as to maintain the.cam roller of the lever 22 out of the influence of the cam '23, isreleased by means of a cam placed upon the chain of a counting device, ameans which is usually employed for analogous movements,

Y As concerns the guides and the reinforcing sheaths for the carrierbars, suitable sh'eathings or linings 25 are disposed upon the ends ofthese bars; they surround the latter on three sides and have edges whichbear upon the guides 28 secured to the supports 29 and 30. The saidsheathings carry on their upper face the'entrainin'g screws 8 abovementioned and on their lower face the screws 26 :and 56 which may belocked in fixed position by lock-nuts 26'and 57. .Let

llli) us consider the left end of the machine' The right end issymmetricalto the left.

The screw 26 serves to regulate the stopping of the correspondingcarrier bar against the stops 34 for the outer selvedges of the hoselegsand the screw 56 serves to lock the bar against the lock 33'for makingthe heels and for splicing.

The thrusts and 'the contact shocks will thus take place upon the saidlinings which serves also as guides; the bars thus reinforced canwithstand all breaking strains.

said locks 33, 34 and stops 58 are vertically urged by the springs 35and retained byihe horizontal pins 37 secured to the supports.

Suitable studs 36, 67,77 mounted on the locks 33 and 34, and upon thestops 58 rement at the left hand of the -'machine,' and that asymmetrical arrangement is mounted at the right, the two followingexamples will set forth the operation of the said stops and locks.

a.For' stopping the carrier bars at the outer-left-hand selvedge of thegoods, the

I strike near the end of the left hand stroke a of this bar against theinclined face of the nut 26' carried by the thread carrier bar willupper part of the lock 34; thus the latter will descend in the support29 in order to let the nut 26', and the screw 26 pass over said lock 34so that the carrier bar may stop against the stop-screw 31 mounted. onthe narrowing carriage 32. Atthe same time. the screw 26 has passed'overthe lock 34 which rises again behind said screw 26,'thus ensuring atight holding of the latter and of the corresponding carrier bar.

b.For the inner selvedge of the right heel, the screw 56 carried by thecarrier-bar which moves from the right to the left, stops against a stop33 on a support 30 disposed at the left hand of the machine; the lockingtakes place at the same time at the right-' hand side of the machine bymeans ofa lock disposed on the right hand support symmetrical to theleft-hand support 30 shown in Fig. 4. The symmetrical operations takeplace for making the inner selvedge of the left heel.

The following part of the description shows the adaptation of thevarious working manner of the carrier-bars.

If one of the carrier-bars is to be stopped alternately at'the right andat the left, and otherwise than for the selvedges, in order to feed theupper part of the foot or the loop rows between the heels, the followingarrangement is employed (Fig. 4). The stopping at the end of the righthand motion takes place between the lock-nut 57 mounted on the carrierbar and the adjustable stop screw 53 mounted on a stop 58 which isslidable in a support 49 secured to the frame; the locking of the bar iseffected by the adjustable screw 56 acting uponthe lock 33 of thesupport 30. The stopping and the locking at the end of the left-handmotion of the bar will take place in the same manner but at theright-hand side of the ma chine.

The locks must be released in order. to provide for the restarting ofthe carrier bars. For this end the lever 43, Fig.4,i which is pivoted tothe support 29. carries a roller 45 and a pin 46 which is adapted tobear upon the pin 36 of the lock 34. A cam 47 secured to the movablesupport 5 which follows the motion ofthe slur-cock acts upon'the rollerThe roller'i65 is actuated by a cam 48 pivoted at 68 to the movablesupport 5. During its left-hand stroke. the cam 48 raises the roller 65and lowers the locks of the support 30. During the reverse stroke thesaid cam 48 strikes the roller 65 by means of its lower inclined planeso that the "said cam will rise and pass over the roller 65.

The locks 33. as well as the stops 58 have to be permanently loweredwhen the corresponding bars travel over. the whole stroke between theouter selvedges. This lowering is effected by means of curved rods 38,Fig. 4, operated by handles 39 and held in the hooked position by thesprings 41 and 73 shown in Fig. 4 arid cooperating with catches 7 4secured on said rods 33 and shown. in Fig. 14. The whole device'ismounted upon supports 40 secured to the frame. The various rods 38 actupon the studs 67 of the. locks 33 and upon the pins 77 of the stops 58.In order to return the said stopsand locks into their operativeposition. it suffices to disengage the catch 74 by means of the knobs 42provided for this purpose: the rods 38 will resume their top positionunder the action of the springs 41 and 73 mounted round the said rodswithin the supports 40.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a straight knitting machine, the combination of means comprisingthread carrier-bars and a looping bar with frames moving above saidcarrier-bars, whereby the motion of the looping bar is transmittedsimultaneously to a number of thread carrier-bars, said means consistingof two groups of pivoting fingers whose number is equal to the number ofthread carrier-bars, each of said groups being adapted to act in a givendirection, said fingers being yieldingly secured in determined angularpositions, stopping and locking devices adapted to limit the stroke ofthe thread carrier-bars and located below said carrier-bars. wherebyeach finger is overturned into its inoperative position at the end ofthe stroke by the corresponding ,carrier-bar, means controlling thesetting-up of the pivoting fingers whereby several bars are adapted tobe simultaneously driven along for independent strokes of differentamplitudes.

2. In a straight bar knitting machine. the combination of thread carrierbars and a looping bar, with frames moving above said carrier bars anddrawn along by'said looping bar, fingers pivotally mounted on saidframes, means for yieldingly maintaining said fingers in determinedangular positions,

means secured to said carrier bars and adapted to be engaged by thoseofsaid fingers being in their operative angular posi 1 tion whereby saidcarrier bars are driven 5 along in either direction and the same fingersoverturned in their inoperative position when said carrier bars arestopped, strikers located respectively at both ends of the stroke ofeach carrier bar and adapted to be i. engaged by said fingers, means forlocking said strikers whereby the locked strikers overturn thecorresponding fingers into their operative position, means for-allowingthe unlocked strikers to yield under the-thrust of the correspondingfingers, means for controlling the locking of said strikers and meaflslocated below the carrier bars for adjusting the stroke oi the same.

3. In a straight bar knitting machine, the

combination of thread carrier bars and a looping bar, with frames movingabove said carrier bars and drawn alongby saidlooping bar, fingerspivotally mounted on said frames, means for yieldingly maintain saidfingers in determined angular positions,

, means secured to said carrier bars '\1I1d adapted to be engaged bythose of said fingers being in their operative angular positions wherebysaid carrier bars are, driven along in either direction and the samefin- I gers overturned in their inoperative position when said carrierbars are stopped, strikers located respectively at both ends of thestroke of eachcarrier bar and adapted to be engaged by said fingers,means for locking said strikers whereby the locked strikers overturn thecorresponding fingers intotheir operative position, means for allowingthe unlocked strikers to yield under the thrust of the correspondingfingers, rocking levers for controlling the locking of said strikers, acam arrangement for controlling said levers whereby the carrier bars tobe driven may be selected, and means located below the carrier bars foradjusting the stroke of the same. y

( 4. In a straight bar knitting machine the combination of threadcarrier bars and a looping bar, with fingers moving above said carrierbars and driven along by said looping bar, linings for reinforcing andguiding said carrier bars, adjustable screws secured to said linings andupon which said fingers are adapted to stroke whereby the carrier barsmay be driven in either direction, means located at both ends of themachine for selectingthe carrier bars to be driven,

stopping and locking devices located at both v ends and below eachcarrier bar for varying the stroke of the same and ad ustable screwssecured to said linings and cooperating with 1 said stopping and lockingdevices whereby the stroke ot said carrier bars may be adjusted. V v

In testim ny whereof I have signedmy name to thiispecification.

f EMILE ARSE'NE NOBLE.

